There are multiple reasons why shopping your insurance with multiple brokers reduces your chance of obtaining the broadest coverage at the most competitive premium. In my 20+ years of experience insuring the guard industry, I can say there’s limited insurance carriers wanting to write the security guard industry. Being that the insurance carriers are limited, you want to make sure each insurance underwriter is presented the most complete & thorough submission possible. Insurance underwriters want to work on and quote business they feel they have a great opportunity in obtaining. The submission should come from an insurance broker who has worked with the underwriter in the past. A broker they trust! The experience of working together, allows the broker to submit the information the underwriter needs to properly evaluate the risk. Underwriters can vary in the information they like to see submitted. Some underwriters have their specific supplemental applications that need to be completed, some want to see a sample client contract to review the indemnity language. Knowing how to present the submission to each insurance carrier is critical in making sure each underwriter provides the most competitive quotes.
On the flip side, if you allow 2, 3 or even 4 insurance brokers to “shop” your insurance, the same underwriter will receive all of those similar submissions. However, each submission can be completely different in the quality of information provided. In my experience, the underwriter is going to think that they have a poor opportunity to earn that business. When the underwriter receives multiple submissions, one of the following will occur:
- The submission is going to go right to the bottom of the underwriter’s pile.
- They will offer a high premium to compensate for the “unknowns” of the risk due.
- The underwriter will decline the account and work on the submissions they feel they have a better opportunity of winning.
In todays market of specialized insurance knowledge, I highly recommend that you partner with an insurance professional that has years of experience with the security guard industry. The insurance broker that you partner with needs to have a relationship with the underwriters. They also need to know how to negotiate the rates and coverage by presenting and showing the underwriter why your guard company is worth their best quote.
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Craig Mount
949-330-9741
